Global post-harvest solutions company, Tomra Food, has found further success with its new AI-powered LucAi technology – with New Zealand’s Fresh Fruit Company (Freshco) installing the package for apple grading.
Founded in 1989, Freshco is a leading fruit and vegetable exporter based in Auckland, New Zealand, which grows and sources high-quality apples with stringent quality and safety requirements.
The company recently implemented the new LucAi upgrade package on its Tomra Spectrim grading platform, where it was able to identify stem split and puncture defects across apple varieties.
The LucAi upgrade package for Spectrim includes pre-trained learning models labelled by Tomra’s Data Science Team. Some of the original clients were cherry packers in New Zealand and the United States, who were able to increase efficiency and quality of products through use of LucAi on Tomra's InVision2 cherry grading platform.
Tomra Food senior application engineer, Glen Kaunds, said that the model classifying stem split and stem punctures can move between varieties without adjustment.
“Spectrim with LucAi allows customers to easily adjust the severity of grading parameters – something which previously had to be done by experienced operators – to cater to seasonal dynamics and market preferences,” said Kaunds.
The technology assesses thousands of high-resolution, multi-channel fruit images every second and cross-references them with these datasets to make grading decisions. It is able to detect and classify difficult apple defects, such as splits and punctures across multiple varieties.
Freshco technology and machinery manager, Robin Mudgway, said that the main defects are around the stem area of the fruit.
“We deal with a lot of Royal Gala and Breeze apples, and they tend to have a lot of splits. The splits are really hard to get around the stem, and you’re forever working on the splits and punctures,” said Mudgway.
“LucAi made it really easy to control that, and the new user interface is really beneficial for tracking grades. You can see more data and when you make changes, you can see the percentage change you’re making. The return on investment is a no-brainer, because your production’s not slowing down.”
